EVE Online devs announce Tron-y futuresport Sparc

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Taking a break from their usual obsessions of spaceships and zapbeams, EVE Online developers CCP have announced a full-body virtual reality futuresport. Sparc [official site] looks a bit like Tron’s murderfrisbee or two-ball Pong, plopping two players in a corridor to fling deathdiscs with one hand and shield with the other while moving their body to dodge discs. CCO say Sparc is their first game outside the EVE universe but it still looks all futuristic and cyber-y to me. Here, watch the announcement trailer, which CCP seem to have accidentally cut into a cologne commercial:

Hai Karate will freak when they see that.

Sparc is made for two-player competitive multiplayer, with features like a built-in spectator space for folks to watch matches and queue. It will have singleplayer training and challenges too, mind.

CCP plan to release Sparc some time this year for both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift cybergoggles. This is their third VR game, following the two EVE spin-offs of EVE: Valkyrie and Gunjack for Samsung’s Gear pocket cyberspace.

Sparc is what became of Project Arena, a prototype CCP showed off last spring. Here’s a ‘mixed reality’ mockup of how it was back then. Given that the announcement trailer is a load of guff, this might be more helpful for a sense of what the game actually is:

As a Vive owner since last April, calling Valkyrie a top game for the platform is way off the mark. The developer’s decision to make the game 60 bucks plus the money-grabbing tactics you mentioned are just that – the developer’s decision. I chose to stay away and play titles like Onward ($25) and Rec Room (free)and still average about 2hrs of daily VR play. I agree to stay away from E:V, but having a pretty much dead game keep you away from a whole platform is unfortunate.

Oh god! CCP! another messed up game! These guys can’t even come up with an original idea!
ITS A COPY!! of TRON DISC!
Someone going to the courts!
CCP cover yourselves in ice & bury yourself! Your an embarrassment to yourselves, we may dig you up when we find you in a million years time!